Hello Blog! It’s been awhile! I’d love to say I’ve been busy, but I haven’t. Just livin’ life you know? But what better reason to grace your feed reader than to celebrate the release of a black romance by one of my #authorbaes, Te Russ! I have read Noble Redemption (sucked it down in one gulp, actually!) and this novel is some of Te’s best work. I’ve read her backward and forward and it’s been such a pleasure to watch her take a step out on a limb and totally kill it in the black romance game! Enough yammering. Let’s get down to bidness! About the Author: Té Russ found reading as a solace at a young age and a vehicle which broadened her horizons. As an adolescent she used writing to express her unspoken words. Since then, she has gone from writing stories in diaries to attending college for journalism and falling in love, which has allowed those youthful words of love to blossom into a series of stories in her romance novels. This Texas wife and mother of three can be found reading, skydiving, cheering for her MMA fighting husband at, buzzing down the interstate on the back of motorcycles, or kayaking. Contact Links: Blog: www.terussnovels.blogspot.com Email: terussnovels@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/TeRussNovels & www.facebook.com/TeRussAuthor Twitter: www.twitter.com/TeRussNovels Instagram: www.instagram.com/TeRussNovels About the Series: This series is set in the fictional town of Sweet Rapids Nevada around quadruplets Isaiah, Ian, Isabella and Ivy. Their parents, Isaac and Irene, run their family business Noble Naturals, a natural hair care line. The siblings are scattered across the country and world and the series focuses on them returning home, finding their balance between their passions and their rightful places in the company, while stumbling across love along the way. About the Book: Her passion for fashion took her to the other side of the world, but Isabella Noble is back in Sweet Rapids and has to face Stephen Hill, the love she gave up for her […]

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Yesterday, I spent some of my day following the habits of an author that I consider successful in the indie author biz. Some may know her, some may not, but she’s a machine and pretty well known in a few circles and is one of the few authors that’s taking the Indie publishing biz and making it her b#tch. She walked away from traditional publishing and decided to do things her own way. Looking at her long list of accomplishments made me ponder all of the things that I (and other black authors) could be doing instead of standing at the door of Big Trad Pub with our hands on our hips trying to figure out how to get in. When I first started writing, self publishing was frowned upon and it was considered to be embarrassing to have to publish your own work. Not even five years later, self publishing is a whole new world, with authors making a serious living from doing it their way. Still, a traditional publishing contract is the mark of validation, of finally being good enough to not have to resort to indie pubbing. However if you’re the kind of person that never needed that validation, there’s much work to be done past trying to be seen by eyes that don’t want to see you. Some things I picked up: 1. It doesn’t happen overnight. Even those authors with long backlists and gobs of fans who make lots of money started somewhere, nice and slow. It starts with hard work and hunger. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. 2. There are some things you may not want to do, but it would be a mistake to put them off and be years down the line, wish you had done them. There are a couple of things I don’t really want to do, but I know I need to. Time to WOMAN UP and do them. Looking at 2017 like *blank stare* 3. Keep […]

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Unedited. Subject to change. Copywritten so don’t copy me. No pub date as of yet, but this is what I plan to work on this November. “Do you know what I do here? Do you know what this law firm is about?” Sylvia rolls her chair back from the desk and stands, then walks to the enormous window covered in floor length sheer white drapes. She pokes her finger between two sheers and peers out into the Atlanta skyline. “At Kincaid Family Law, we bring men like Warren Jackson to their knees. Go after assets. Find hidden money.” She turns from the window and strides back to her desk and resumes her seat. “We take men who are trying to get around their responsibilities to task. And we make them pay.” The last three words are enunciated clearly, spoken at a decibel above her regular tone and punctuated by the tap of a fiery red fingertip. “I see.” I clear my throat, reaching for the bag that I’d set down near my feet. I set it on my lap and resist the urge to wrap my arms around it to protect myself. “I… I’m not sure that…well, Maxine wanted me to call you. I don’t have much money and I don’t believe Warren does, either. I’m not looking to take him to the cleaners. I don’t want anything from Warren but a divorce decree and child support.” Sylvia reaches for the bottle of coconut water, slowly unscrewing the cap and sipping a few swallows. “I see a lot of young ladies sitting in that chair,” she says, her words coming slowly. Diabolically. “Mothers, young pretty ones, tossed aside for a younger, prettier models. They come through here with their heart on their sleeves, still halfway in love with the bastard that screwed them over, talking about how they don’t want anything, just a clean break.” She emits a wry chuckle, wags her head back and forth a time or two […]

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Mid-Event Survey: 1. What are you reading right now? Just finished STORMY WEATHER by Paula Woods, Book two in the Charlotte Jones Detective series 2. How many books have you read so far? This is book two 3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Hoping Book 3 is even better than 1 & 2 4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? Nope, I live alone, so other than needing food and drink, I’ve been fine. 5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? Very surprised at how fast people are blazing through books. Granted I am reading thick, involved books but… it’s not a race, right?

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This is my first official readathon so let’s do it right, shall we? This is the opening meme to the 24 hour reading session. 1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Atlanta, GA 2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? None in particular. I’m starting a series, so just hoping the next is better than the one before. 3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I got a nice hot breakfast sandwich. ANd some skittles. 4) Tell us a little something about yourself! By day I am an Executive Admin for a well known Atlanta based beverage company. By night, I’m an avid reader and indie author. 5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? First one, so let’s get it crackin’. In my search for books to read, I found a black female detective series I hadn’t read yet. I’m starting with Inner City Blues by Paula Woods and moving on to the other three books in the series. I hope they’re good since that’s what I plan to read today. As a failsafe, I have Dreams of Joy by Lisa See, the followup to Shanghai Girls. Should be a good day!

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After writing a book, I always need a break. I need to decompress from the writing schedule, from my mind being consumed with how to write well and how to make what I have written better. I need to clear my head of the old plot, the old one-liners, the old goals.

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I remember way back in the olden days (like 2015) when i was about to publish my first book. Like, I was about to hit the publish button on Amazon and send my baby out into the world for strangers to grab it and grope it and criticize it and say nasty things about it. And me. Because that’s what I was convinced was going to happen.

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Sometimes I read a book by a well-loved author and I think,”wow, that was their best yet!” and sometimes I think, “wow, that was so classic [author]”. This book is classic Slaughter to me. Gritty, compact, twisted and complex.

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On one of my beach trips, I was watching the tide come in and thinking about a cute short story about a woman who owns some kind of business on an island and she meets a man she can’t resist… but she has to, because he’s not staying. That was summer of 2015…. it took all this time (and about 4 beach trips!) for this story to come together in my head.

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When Ameenah Porter moves to the quaint beach town of Black Diamond Isles to fulfill her dream of opening her own smoothie shop, she encounters a man who is tall, dark and extremely handsome with a wicked taste for orange flavored beverages. She doesn’t need the distraction of a new man but Wade, who’s staying in the giant sized home at the end of her block, is irresistible.

Soon, Wade is a regular fixture at Tikis & Cream and while her days are busy, her nights sizzle.

Wade Marshall was supposed to spend the summer on Black Diamond Isles getting away from the city, ridding himself of the distractions that had been impacting his work. When he meets his bold, beautiful, sexy neighbor with the “glorious hips” and a penchant for ice cream, he tries hard to resist, but the attraction wins him over.

There’s only one problem: Wade is returning to Brooklyn at the end of the summer. Ameenah lives on Black Diamond. If they give into their desires, it has to be with the understanding that this fling is just that… a Beach Thing.

As the end of summer on Black Diamond nears, will they run from what they feel, or admit what they’ve known all along?

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Hello!

Welcome to The Sweet Escape, home of Author DL White. I blog about my adventures as a Romance and Women's Fiction reader and writer. My work has appeared at IndieInk.org, Short-Story.net and Storyfix.com. My first full length novel, Brunch at Ruby's is now available!

I enjoy reading (lots and lots of reading) writing, candy, Sprite, and things flavored with raspberry... but not raspberries themselves. I hope you'll drop by often and share in the joy (uh huh) of writing! Enjoy your stay!